Autobiographical musings

Srikrishna is a multifaceted personality. A wonderful set of books I will recommend is Krishnavatara series (8 of them) by KM Munshi published by Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan. The first book is The Magic Flute  which deals with His childhood. Then there are Book of Bhima , Five Brothers ,  Book of Vyasa , and 4 more. In every book, Srikrishna's personality is described - as a statesman, humanitarian and a true friend. Every incident in Krishna's life is portrayed as if happening in the present atmosphere. Srikrishna lived for Dharma, Sathya, Shanthi, Ahimsa and Bhagavad Githa amply explains these. Our Swami's teachings too, are based on these basic principles. In fact, all religions stand for these basic truths - the only problem was selfishness crept into these tenets, people started to give vicarious meanings to the religious practices and spoiled the basic principles of human values. Some religions are spreading hatred and enmity instead of love, compassion and tolerance an...

Gururbrahma Gururvishnu Gurudevo Maheswarah. Guru is everything and also God. All people wearing saffron clothes are not Gurus. A true Guru keeps his thoughts, words and deeds synchronised. He talks and does only good deeds. Such people have their knowledge from enlightened vision. All our ancient Rishis got their blessings and enlightenment directly from God. What and who was Vyasa Bhagawan - did he go to school or learnt Sanskrit? All the tons of knowledge that He had was obtained by His direct enlightenment. The amount of work he did - like the classification and coding of all the four Vedas - cannot be seen anywhere else in this world. Apart from the Vedas, he has written Mahabhagavatham, Mahabharatham and 18 Puranas. There is a story about him saying that Vyasa was still restless in his mind, Narada advised him to write the story of Sri Krishna to give him peace of mind, and he wrote Mahabhagavatham. Our Swami, Sathya Sai, was a world Guru in the true sense and people from all co...

Without hope, there is no life. Hope sustains life. But one's hopes must be for pure things and purposes. One can hope for a decent living and not for a deceitful life. One can hope for a purposeful, comfortable life, with sufficient worldly wealth. But worldly wealth is nothing when you have spiritual wealth, which can give you real happiness. With spiritual wealth, one can gain bhakthi and faith, which alone can give everlasting happiness and peace of mind. When one's mind is engaged in some thoughts, it is difficult to change - to switch over to another thought. When a strong hope is occupying your mind, don't try to remove it - but follow it earnestly and you can attain it. Never try to suppress or remove a hope from your mind because it can improve your spiritual yearning, and thereby Bhakthi, and that will give sufficient Blessings from Bhagawan to have more hopes for better living in a spiritual atmosphere. Hopes and prayers are cousins, and so never lose hope. Swami...

I will be 84 this 20th Sept (2021). I feel great, and am satisfied considering the blessings God has showered on us. I cannot count the blessings Sai, our Lord, has showered on us. But still, there is a black dot in the final stage, with Rema falling ill due to some bad fate in the form of quadriplegia. But even here, He showed mercy by giving her the strength to face all problems associated with that problem. Sai gave her such strength that she never felt it as a bad fate at all, and faced all the pain and discomfort without complaint. Usually she cannot bear discomfort at all - it is a wonder how and from where she got this immense tolerance - no doubt from our dear Sai. Oh God! We are truly blessed, Baba! So far, God has always looked after me throughout my life in all adverse circumstances, even in my professional surgical experience. I have enumerated a few in my previous writings. We never dreamt that a world catastrophe like Corona will strike like a typhoon like in the present ...

The problem with the modern society is, too many desires. The more you satisfy your desires, the more they increase. Our Swami always says, life is like a train journey - the more the luggage, the less comfortable the journey is. So reduce your desires and put a ceiling on desires.  For example, when we started our life after returning from the UK in 1975, we had no phone, no fridge, no TV etc and yet, we were still comfortable. When we start accumulating things, say a TV, we want a mobile and then a laptop, and then a car and the list goes on like that. It is all right, you must have what you need, but not anything and everything to satisfy your ego. It is difficult not to have any desire at all and that is why we must have a " ceiling on desires ", as Bhagawan says. Everybody will be happier when one can cut the desires to essential ones.  We are in Puttaparthi now, without TV (which Swami says is televisham), no gas, only induction cooker, I don't use my own car - Har...

Prof. PR Pisharoty For me to write about him is like an ant measuring an elephant - he was such a gigantic personality with international fame. His knowledge was not confined to Physics and Meteorology alone; he was well versed in Sanskrit literature and cultural subjects. You mention a subject, he would have mastered it. His memory was stupendous and grasping power immense. Here, I will say that my son has inherited these qualities to a certain extent. The number of papers he has written is so large that he himself may not know the exact number.  His advice on many subjects was eagerly sought. Even our Ex-PM Indira Gandhi admired him and took his advice. Ex-President Abdul Kalam also admired him - that shows his greatness. He never showed off and had no pretensions. He was frank in expressing his views and so the demand for his advice on any subject under the sun was great. The first time I spoke to him personally was in Trivandrum when Thumba Rocket station was inaugurated. Sara...

This is how I see people: Remesh Here is a superlative genius of the human species. He is honest, straightforward and brave, and at the same time, very diplomatic and soft-spoken. Our relationship is not like friendship, but more like a father-son or guru-shishya one. He is wonderful and pleasant in any company. He goes out of the way to help not only his friends, but anyone who requests help, not only in money matters, but in other ways too. His capacity to work for hours on end has surprised me often. He appreciates anything good and in buying things he selects only the best and costly items. He is my best student in Surgery - learns fast and executes fast, and perfectly too. When I found that I can't stand for long periods of time, he used to come for helping me in Surgery - he used to oblige me whenever I called him. I have a very small circle of friends of which Remesh is the only friend who visits us and calls us regularly and frequently. His parents are no more. He asked the...

Who has not had dreams in this world - we all have dreams aplenty. Dreams can be of mainly two types - the conscious dreams like day dreams, and the unconscious ones during sleep. Anyone can have the former at any time - for eg. 'I wish I could fly like a bird'. The second type is the commonest, which everyone has had. For example, I dreamt last night about writing about dreams - and that was the cause for this write-up. Very often dreams come true partly or in full. Among Sai devotees, to dream about Swami is considered a blessing, and there had been instances of true happenings following such dreams. There had been instances of Bhagawan verifying some dreams involving Swami. Anyway - a dream involving Swami is considered a blessing by devotees. We can only imagine the pleasure experienced by them, which no amount of analysing using the brain can provide. The difference between a rationalist and a believer is that the latter derives happiness out of faith and Bhakthi (devotio...

During my childhood, during Vishu or Onam, in those days, we made THRIKKAKARAPPANS and MATHEVAR with clay and prayed to them. The icons were usually made by Narayanan Nair. Daily morning pooja for four days. We would all eagerly await pulikali on the 4th Onam. Of course, we children enjoyed Onam season especially due to school holidays, usually 9 days. Quarterly exams were sometimes before Onam or sometimes after. We preferred to have the exams before, for enjoying the Onam vacations.  In Thrissur, we had not only Pooram , Mandalakaalam also was important. In both Thiruvambady and Paramekav - there were vela kalamezhuthu and velichappad thullal in the evening and Thayambaka . I enjoyed Thayambaka. Finally after the 41 days of Mandala kalam, there would be a procession with Elephants - Ezhunnallath called VELA - a mini pooram - mainly at night. Balagopalachettan rarely joined Chechi and me for playing. The other brothers were too senior. I have seen Ettan and Sreechettan figh...

There are many temples in Calicut - for an Ambalavaasi that is important. Pisharikav temple is very near our Arcade Apartments (Quilandy Pisharikav is different). Another nearby temple here is Ganapathikav temple. Formerly, we regularly worshipped at Sreekanteshwara Temple near stadium and occasionally THALI. There are many other temples in Calicut.  Near Arcade, at East Hill junction, there is a museum - VK Krishna Menon museum . You might know that VK Krishna Menon's old thravad house is in Panniyankara, Calicut. i don't know whether it still exists. other interesting places are Sarovaram park, pretty long beach, Tagore centenary hall, superb medical college campus, Kappad beach where Vasco Da Gama landed, etc. Wayanad is also easily approachable, with many tourist attractions.

During school days, I was not very quiet. From 5th std onwards I used to go to the school playground in the evening, playing MASS, KOTA - a form of running game, KhoKho (for which I got a prize), tennikoit, and volleyball. And near our drill class, I had a go at pole vault, long jump and triple jump as well as exercises with bars and rings. Faith in God was first instilled in me by Kochechi (my mother's sister) telling us the Dhruva story. She also told us many stories from Bhagavatham. One story which struck me and touched my mind was that of Balagopalan. His mother was very poor but a great Bhaktha. The boy came back from gurukulam and said all his classmates are bringing some present for the teacher and he too wanted to take something. His mother was helpless and asked him to pray to Krishna Bhagavan. He said a brother used to come with him when passing through a small forest to school. This brother told him not be afraid and if he needed anything call him loudly 'chetta, c...

Every morning while praying, I try to get a topic to write about, and today, the flash was about Amma - Amrithanandamayi . Rema and I had been to Amma's ashramam at Amrithapuri which is in Karunagappilli near Kayamkulam. We had to go a small distance by a country boat to reach the Ashramam. Once we reached there, we were very hungry, went straight to the dining hall and had hot Kanji and puzhukku with relish. Then we went around the place. As we reached the place in the morning, the crowd was less, and we got a temporary accommodation above the Kaali temple. Mainly we needed only toilet facility, as our stay was only till evening. Next we went to Amma's KUTIL (hut) for that special darshan. It was a small hall with a thatched roof. In about an hour, we reached the front of the line, face to face with AMMA. She hugged me and while hugging she said, "Amma sankalpicholam. Nalla kutty aanallo". Rema too was hugged by Amma. Then we went, sat in the Kaali temple hall and sa...

I want to share an incident, my only chance for an interview with Sathya Sai, along with all Kerala SS Trust members. Trust chairman then was Mr Kumaran Eradi, Justice Eradi's younger brother. Along with us was the Ex minister Mr Wellington also. Swami liked him and always talked to him. Lots of things about the Srisailam School were discussed and Swami asked many questions. Just before ending the interview, Swami said something which I didn't hear properly and didn't understand. Later, Mukundan, our state president, told that Swami had commented that I was always thinking, thinking; just do good things and everything will be ok. That was a good message for me. After the interview, all of us came out and sat on the veranda/ Swami continued to talk to Wellington - His plans to enlarge the Sai Kulwant hall in detail. Sorry, I forgot the date of the interview. Forgot to mention (in the previous post about Prasanthi Nilayam ) more about the two museums here in Prasanthi Nilay...

Now a few incidents from my professional life. My profession was, as you know, Surgery. Surgery is a field where lots of DAIVAADHEENAM - God's blessings - is required - no, is a must. I always pray and surrender for the successful completion of the work I am going to undertake to God - my Swami - imagining my Swami's figure in my mind - and all things clean up and complete smoothly. Once I was doing a Thyroidectomy - quite a large one. I prayed and started. On mobilising the right lobe, I found it was very adherent to the Carotid sheath. I chanted, "Sairam, Sairam" in my mind, seeing HIM in my mind, mobilised it as usual and it just popped into my hands. A little bleeding was there but controllable. Oh! What a relief! Our Swami is like that - Aapathbandhavan (Protector from danger). Another one: A patient had surgery for perforated duodenal ulcer. The next day, he was ok, but from the third day onwards, he was looking a bit sad and anxious and his abdomen was distende...

From Calicut, we have gone to Ooty when Swami was there. Darsan was in the Bhajan hall. He would make us wait outside in the open air, and the crowd was not much. Then all would be admitted into the bhajan hall for bhajans. We had the good fortune to go inside when Bhagawan was there. Similarly, we have gone to Kodai also. Hari got this lovely chance to be with His group of students, specially selected by Him (in 2006). They then went by plane to Madurai and from there by bus. Swami really pampers his boys with superlative tasty food and cosy sleeping arrangements. But His strict regulations have to be seriously followed by all. Once He showed Seethamatha's wedding ring - was as big as a bangle it seems.  We had a Maruti Omni when we went to Kodai once, and were making a slow detour around the lake, when Swami's car was coming up behind us. I slowed down for His car to overtake us. Some devotee kept a ripe mango on top of His car, which moved and fell off on the road in front o...

While writing PSN - Prasanthi Nilayam , certain things were forgotten. XMas celebration is one. On XMas day, Nagarasangeerthanam would be done by foreigners. When they collect in front of the Mandir, Swami would appear on the balcony above -  that is an indescribable Darshan for all of us. He blesses all from there and the devotees do the Aarathi, with all holding lighted candles. It is a sight for all Ganas, Devas and angels from heaven. Xmas special programs would be presented in front of Swami - morning and evening - and special food in Foreigners' canteen. Many foreigners would stay put there, wishing and praying for interviews at some time, and some lucky ones get them too.

Swami called this place Prasanthi Nilayam - perhaps because Swami wanted all who come here to have Peace and Santhi - that will promote Bhakthi which in turn gives Salvation or MUKTHI. So this is the trick that attracts people all over the world to PSN. There are lots of regulations if you want to be in PSN. Ladies and gents are segregated here. Ladies and gents have to cover their whole body, and no exhibitionism of any sort is allowed. Discipline and strict queuing everywhere. When Swami was there, sitting for Darsan had a fool-proof queuing system. They will make you sit in lines, which will be many in number. The controller will bring a bagful of lots from which the first person will take a lot, and like that all the first people in each line will take lots. When all are ready, number 1 will be called and that line can go in - and like that all lines. When people sit inside also, volunteers will direct you where to sit - you have to obey them, or you will be forcibly remov...

I want to put in words what comes to my mind. I love my children as my life and used to be proud of their achievements, their lovable nature and would speak to Rema telling her how fortunate we are to have such BANGARUS (Swarnakkattakal - nuggets of gold - in Swami's words). Both are brilliant in their fields. Anju is a consultant in Radiology and an examiner for Royal College of Radiologists in the UK, the highest she can climb till now. Hari is a PhD in physics from the prestigious world famous Sathya Sai Deemed University. Swami Himself selected him for working in the Sathya Sai Space Theatre. He went step by step from plus2, BSc, MSc to PhD and was a topper always. What else one can aspire to. He is honest, straightforward and perfect in every way. So we are on the top of the world and cannot pray for more. I admire Hari and tell my friends that I consider him as my Guru. Many staff and some teachers often consult him for help and he is wanted very often. Hari gets irritated at...

My routine for long, even before reaching PSN (Prasanthi Nilayam), had been to get up at 4.30 AM, bathe, shave, etc and then light a lamp, chant Omkaram 21 times aloud, Ganesha namaskaram, original Soorya Gayathri followed by Sai Gayathri 21 times, Sathya Sai Astotharam, Praanaayaamam, Two Devi Manthras (Amma's advice), walk a little, then finally Aadithya Hrudayam facing Sun, wherever I am. I submit every prayer to Sathya Sai. Whenever I visit a temple and pray, I try to see Swami there - whether it is Guruvayur or Vadakkunnathan or any other place. For us, Swami is Sarvadeva because He is truly Parabrahmam. I do evening sandhyaavandanam too on a smaller scale. Lunch usually around 12.30 pm, have a short nap and then some time on the laptop writing something like this - this writing process started only a few wks back - see something on Youtube, mostly comedies, online news and channels - there are plenty now. Astrology - mainly making charts while I was using Windows, now no mo...

Thinking about a topic to write about - the first one that comes to mind is 'blanking my mind'. I used to try to blank my mind occasionally, especially at night when I spend sleepless hours. This gives some calmness and helps sleep. Along with that, I try PRANAYAMA too for a few times - deep long inspiration followed by slow deep total expiration. Both combined can be beneficial. I also go to bed at night with a light stomach. Now - talking about food - we are all family vegetarians for generations. We are AMBLAVAASIS (temple helpers like garland makers, drummers etc) and vegetarianism is in the blood. And generally most of our elders lived up to 80, 90 or even 100+. My mother up to 92, another uncle of mine up to 105. Our caste people were generally loving and peaceful (SANTHAR). in short SATHWA GUNAM predominates. Now about eating non-veg, Swami Chinmayananda used to say, that was like eating A DEAD BODY - not only cruel, but barbaric too.